How Indie Artists can use Google Alerts to monitor their web presence

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For some artists, checking Twitter mentions to monitor what is being said about them is good enough. For others, it is not so useful because they are mentioned on other blogs and websites, not just Twitter.

If you are sending out new tracks, or just released a mixtape, chances are you are being mentioned somewhere on the web. If you are not, you need to reevaluate what you are doing. And like us all, we want to know what is being said about us.

If you are not using Google Alerts it is time that you get on it.

What is Google Alerts?

Google Alerts are emails sent to you when Google finds new results — such as web pages, newspaper articles, or blogs — that match your search term. You can use these Alerts to get updates on pretty much anything you would like. While some people may use this service to get updates on developing news stories, you can use this to monitor yourself!

Here is how it works:

• You enter a query that you’re interested in. Example: Skewln
• Google Alerts checks regularly to see if there are new results for your query.
• If there are new results, Google Alerts sends them to you in an email.

Tips on how to get it right

• Try to be as precise as possible. As with anything, the more detail you give, the better.
• Use quotes around words if you are looking for them together. Ex [ "Mike Real" ].
• Use a dash in front of words that you do not want to use. Ex. [ "Sam Adams" -beer ].
• Put a + immediately before a word to match it exactly. Ex. [+Skewln]
• Use it to track specific sites. Ex. ["Jamie Drastik" site:skewln.com]

As you can see, there are many options for you to track yourself and the best part is that it is free. Why not monitor what is being said about you. You never know what website you may actually pop-up on.